“Can Klarna transform from the world's leading BNPL brand into a full-stack digital financial OS — combining shopping, payments, banking, open banking infrastructure, and AI — while scaling US consumer lending profitably off-balance-sheet?”
Founded in 2005 as a simple invoice-based pay-later tool for Swedish e-commerce, Klarna progressively expanded into a full digital bank after obtaining its banking license in 2017. The company rode the BNPL wave to a $45.6B peak valuation in 2021 before a dramatic down-round in 2022 forced a pivot to profitability and US growth. By 2025 it had IPO'd on NYSE, and by 2026 its embedded finance stack had expanded beyond BNPL to include banking accounts, a Klarna Card, open banking infrastructure sold B2B, insurance, and a capital-light SRT-backed US financing program.
Klarna discloses Klarna Bank AB (publ) (in-house) as its banking provider, with WebBank as its sponsor bank, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
Klarna has applied for a industrial bank (ilc) charter for Klarna Bank USA with the FDIC / Utah DFI. Status: application filed (2026-07-06). Until then its banking services run through WebBank and Klarna Bank AB (publ) (in-house).
Klarna processes payments through Klarna Payments (self-operated), Worldpay, Checkout.com, Adyen, Mollie, Worldline, Bambora, VALITOR and 2 others.
Klarna's cards are issued through Klarna Bank AB (publ) (in-house).
Klarna uses Persona for KYC and identity verification.
Klarna's lending and capital products are provided by WebBank.
Klarna's embedded insurance is provided by Cover Genius.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 7 layers in Klarna's stack: Payments / PSP (Klarna Payments (self-operated), Worldpay, Checkout.com, Adyen and 6 others); Banking / BaaS (Klarna Bank AB (publ) (in-house)); Card issuing (Klarna Bank AB (publ) (in-house)); Lending (WebBank, Pay in 4 (BNPL installments), Pay in 3 (BNPL installments), Pay in 30 days (short-term credit) and 3 others); Insurance (Cover Genius); KYC (Persona); Sponsor bank (WebBank).
Klarna was founded by Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Niklas Adalberth and Victor Jacobsson and is founded in 2005, headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden.
Klarna has raised ~$6.2B in total (latest round: IPO, July 2025; valuation: ~$14.6B at IPO pricing (post-IPO market cap higher at open)).
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Klarna and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.